City of Devils
by Rattlesnake Smile
Summary: After the chaos of her freshmen year of college, Caroline Forbes has decided she needs a change of scenery. So she's off to sunny California where she plans on continuing her education at UCLA. However, she soon finds that not everything is as it seems in La-La Land, and that underneath all the glamour, it's really a City of Devils.
1. I - Caroline

_I've decided to give this website another chance, for whatever reason._

 _This whole story started about a year ago, because someone on the TVD wiki asked the users for help in making characters for a fanfiction, one that centered around Caroline and involved her living her own life after the events of the season five finale. I liked this idea because Caroline was always one of the best and well-rounded characters, in my opinion. That is, until Kevin Williamson left the show and Caroline Dries took over with Julie Plec. After that, the whole show started to go to hell. So I'm using this story as a sort of spin-off focusing on Caroline, but with guest appearances from the other members of the main cast._

 _This first chapter is sort of a prologue, letting everyone know what happened to the other main characters of TVD and why Caroline decided to move and start fresh._

* * *

 **CAROLINE**

May, 2012

The monitor lit up with the face of a beautiful young woman, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, the very visage of the All-American girl-next-door. Though, at first, he beauty was hard to recognize, because all one would see would be the bright red and runny nose, and the eyes swollen from crying. Her golden hair was limp and tangled and the circles under those dull blue eyes were large and dark. She looked like hell, like one small bit of bad news more and she would shatter. She was a tragic sight, curled up on the computer chair she sat upon, a blanket around her shoulders.

At first, she seemed unaware that the webcam was on and recording, her eyes staring off into distant space that no one else could physically see, her mind turned inward to whatever tragic memory that assailed her. After a moment or two of reflection, her eyes flickered over to the computer, intelligence and humanity filling their watery blue depths. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes before opening her mouth to speak, only to close it again a second later.

She repeated this twice more before her eyes once again welled with tears.

"I'm sorry... I can't..." She reached out and closed the laptop, ending the recording.

 **-oOo-**

June, 2012

The webcam was once again on and the young woman was once again in her chair, though this time a bit more put together. She'd cleaned up and was no longer wrapped up in a blanket. But, once again there was a downside. This time, a bottle of what looked like very expensive bourbon was in her grasp, half of its contents gone and not a glass in sight. The blue eyes this time were fever bright and glazed over with a drunken filter. Once again: beautiful but tragic.

"So, I'm supposed to talk to you." She waved the hand holding the bottle of whiskey at the camera. "You, anonymous people. Whoever has nothing to do with their lives but to listen to the ramblings of the heartbroken." She raised the bottle to her lips and took a long swig of the amber spirit. "But... but, what is talking going to do about any of it? Hmm?" She directed her burning gaze toward the camera, and for the briefest of moments, her eyes seemed filled with blood, the veins of her cheeks protruding against her skin. But less than the span of a blink and she was still just a drunken young woman, struggling to work though some sort of grief.

"No, talking's not going to do anything." She snarled after swallowing the booze. "They're dead and they're not coming back. No amount of talking is going to change that at all." Tears began to shimmer, unshed in her eyes. "Talking just makes me relive it all over again." One tear fell, then another. Pretty soon she couldn't hold them back.

"I can't do this - "

Once again the computer was closed abruptly.

 **-oOo-**

August, 2012

The computer was turned on, the webcam broadcasting. The young woman once again was sitting at her desk, though this time she wasn't a crumbling or drunken mess. Her eyes were clear and bright, focused entirely on the camera, her face flesh and clean, her make-up meticulously applied. She took a deep breath and let it out before beginning.

"If you happened to have caught my last two recordings, I apologize." She said. "I..." She looked away for a moment, trying to figure out how to best articulat what she wanted to say. "I wasn't in the best place. So, let's start over." She straightened herself up in her chair and stared directly at the camera. "Hi, my name is Caroline Forbes." She smiled brightly, her smile like pure sunshine.

"You see, I had just finished my freshmen year at Whitmore College here in Virginia, when... " She seemed at a loss for words. "Well, something happened. A lot of somethings happened, actually. Just one after another after another..."

 _A handsome young man was facing off against and elegant, darker-skinned woman, a blood-stained grimoire laying on a table nearby while the fire roared in the fireplace and the windows burst open on account of the wind. Silas and Qetsiyah, two ancient, powerful and crazy beings, having their last confrontation on this plane._

 _Jesse, and older college boy she happened to like who had been turned into a vampire. Not only that, but a vampire that fed on vampires. She had though she could help him, right up until her best friend had ripped out his heart to save her boyfriend._

 _Katherine Pierce, scourge of her life, mirror image of her best friend and the reason she was currently what she was, laying dying in a bed, her five hundred years of life finally catching up with her. That is, only for her to turn around and through some gyspy juju, possess Elena and make their lives even more miserable._

 _She remembered the Travelers and the smell of roasting flesh as a dozen of them burned themselves alive. She remembered watchign another Traveler wearing the face of her ex-boyfriend rip out the heart of Stefan, letting him die there on the ground._

Caroline shook herself out of her memories before once again focusing on the webcam.

"Then there was a car accident and a gas leak in town." She went on to explain.

 _Damon and Elena clasped hands over the gear shift as they plowed through the side of the Mystic Grill in his vintage car, an explosion soon engulfing the entire building and killing the entirety of the Travlers that lurked inside, celebrating their new home._

"Elena was okay, but Damon didn't make it." Caroline informed her vast and silent audience. "Tyler recovered from his thing, which we won't get into." She shook her head agian, tears shimmering briefly in her eyes. "But Bonnie..." She looked away and wiped at her eyes. "Bonnie didn't make it either." She looked back at the camera, her eyes watering.

 _"I know there's probably a million other people we'd each rather be with right now..." Bonnie said, holding out her hand to the vampire beside her. The elder Salvatore brother looked down before meeting the witch's eyes._

 _"Couple thousand, at least." He joked, as he usually did, linking his hand with hers. Around them, the world... well, vibrated seemed to be the only word that properly described it, and even that didn't seem right. The light in the sky flickered, seeming to grow brighter, as if the light at the end of the tunnel was coming to them instead of the other way around._

 _"Do you think it will hurt?" Bonnie asked, a little tremble to her voice as she gripped his hand tighter. He returned the squeeze, watching as their end approached._

 _"I don't kn-"_

"After that, well, we all sort of fell apart." Caroline explained. "I mean, at first we all tried to band together, help each other through our shared grief, but eventually... " She shrugged. "We just moved on, but in different directions." She sighed. "Elena decided to drop out of college and see the world. I haven't really heard from her since she took off in the middle of the night."

 _Elena Gilbert, dark-haired, beautiful doppelganger of Katherine Pierce attacked the couple camping out in the woods in the middle of the night, her eyes vamped out and inhuman, all traces of humanity gone. She sank her fangs into the girl's neck, draining the life-sustaining blood, her hand over her mouth to stop the screaming. On the ground at her feet was the girl's boyfriend, a large and vicious bite on the side of his neck sluggishly pumping out blood._

"Since Alaric couldn't really go home, he decided to follow Elena... keep her out of trouble."

 _Elena was pulled roughly away from the girl she was feeding on and thrown backward, where she rolled to her feet with a feral hiss, her beauty lost in the animalistic fury that masked her face. The man who pulled her off, one Alaric Saltzman, looked down at her with pity in his eyes. With one last hiss, she turned and ran, a small dark blur that was quickly lost in the shadows. Ric turned his gaze toward the groaning of the couple on the ground, his gaze immediatly going to the wounds at their necks, his heightened senses honing in on the blood. His eyes briefly flickered to their vampiric nature before he regained control of himself and raised his wrist to his lips, sinking fangs into flesh and releasing his healing blood._

 _He crouched down._

"Jeremy... well, he didn't take Bonnie's death to well..."

 _Jeremy sat in the cavernous living room of the Salvatore Boarding House, pouring more Bourbon into a crystal glass, only to spill half of it as he brought it to his lips and down it all. Lying around him were the mostly empty, and some shattered, crystal decanters that house the Salvatore's famous liquor selection. The young Hunter refilled his glass before leaning back into the couch, one hand holding the glass of hooch and the other holding a picture that was so handled, the edges were starting to crumble. It was a picture of him and Bonnie. As he stared at it, glass halfway to his lips, the tears started to fall and then the sobs quickly followed. With a rage-filled scream, he hurled the glass across the room, watching as it shattered against the wall. Still screaming, he got up and caused some more damage to the room, knocking over tables and spilling papers everywhere. He continued to scream, falling to his knees and curling in on himself, his impressive frame wracked with heavy sobs._

"Since he didn't have anyone else, my mom's been taking care of him."

 _Liz Forbes slowly entered the darkened room, taking in the mess of scattered papers and broken bottles laying everywhere. She stepped around most of the mess and made her way to the hunched over form of Jeremy Gilbert, his sobs now mostly silent._

 _"Come on, Jeremy." She said softly in the kind of voice you would use to talk to a frightened animal, or someone about to jump off a ledge. "Let's get you cleaned up."_

 _"Go away." Jeremy mumbled into the carpet._

 _"Jeremy..." The sheriff sighed. "You're coming with me if I have to put you in cuffs and haul you out of here." Jeremy peeked out past his own bangs, looking up at Caroline's mother with red-rimmed eyes before he slowly hauled himself to his feet. He stumbled drunkenly, only to have Liz brace him, arm around his impressive shoulders as she led him through the mess and toward the front doors._

 _"Tomorrow, you're coming back here to clean all this up." She scolded him._

"Stefan disappeared. At first, he hung around, searching for... ways to handle it. Then he stopped returning our calls. Then he just... left. We went by his place one day and his stuff was gone."

 _A pair of jean-clad legs is sticking out from beneath a car in a typical mechanic's garage. The tinkering of tools could be heard as whoever was under there was messing with the engine, trying to solve the problem. As he worked, a man in coveralls came out of the office at the back of the garage._

 _"Hey! Get your ass in here, kid. It's payday." He shouted before going back to his office. The mechanic slid out from beneath the vehicle and there stood Stefan Salvatore, grease and oil staining his shirt and hands. He pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped his hands as he made his way to his boss's office._

"Matt joined the community watch program. Said he was going to join the Police Academy when he was eligable." She smiled. "He said after everything that had happend to our town, he wanted to actually protect it."

 _Matt jogged around the town square with the rest of the Community Watch members, sweat soaking his thin t-shirt to his broad chest and powerful arms_.

"And Tyler, well, he decided to make use of his clean slate. He joined Whitmore. Last I heard he was with the practice squad on the football team, working out his aggression."

 _Tyler continued with his push-ups in his dorm room, obviously having been at them for a while if the sweat dripping off of his bare torso was anything to go by, his muscles bulging with the effort of his work-out._

"And me, well, after a lot of thought about it, I've decided to go back to college." Caroline said. "i talked it over with my mom and she agreed that I needed to get away from this place. I mean we, not just me, but all of us, we've all lost parents and loved ones in this town. Sticking around is like wallowing in the misery." She smiled brightly. "So, you are looking at the future Class of '15 graduate of UCLA." She seemed really happy about that. "I'm finally gonna get to pursue my drama major and become the next great star... even if just for a little while.

"My plane leaves tomorrow, so I'm all packed with nothing to do. That's kind of the reason I started this video diary." She admitted with a sheepish smile. "You see, Stefan and Elena both told me ove the years how writing in a journal helped them get all this... " She searched for a word while waving her hands around. "... stuff off of my chest. I tried it but couldn't get past the first page. So, I decided to embrace the twenty-first century and try a video diary." She shrugged. "And so, here we are. We'll see how long it lasts. I just wanted to start it before I move on to my new life tomorrow.

"Good bye, Mystic Falls. Hello, sunny L.A."


	2. II - New In Town

_I've named these chapters after song titles - makes it easier on me - but the songs are all relative to the plot of the chapter. For example, the first chapter was titled Caroline, which is because it's about Caroline. I thought of it while I was listening to "Caroline" by Alex Clare. This chapter is titled "New In Town", after the song by Little Boots, and it revolves around Caroline first appearing in the city and we get to meet all of my main characters._

 _I'm treating this like it's a spin-off of TVD, so I created a "cast" of ten main characters, similar to the main characters on TVD and TO. To make it easier on me to write them, I've also actually "cast" the roles with actors, but I'll put that at the bottom so as to not give away who the main characters are already. And, you'll notice as you read the story that I've taken characters from TVD, TO and other shows where I thought I could blend in the characters easily. It saves me time having to come up with an entirely new character when I've already seen something I really like, and it allows me to sort of weave in characters I like from other shows._

 _Also, quick warning, this chapter contains a rape scene. If you wish to avoid it, it's the second-to-last scene in this chapter and starts off with the character Dani walking home from work. You've been warned._

* * *

 **New In Town**

The room was cold and impersonal. Stereotypical hospital room you'd find almost anywhere in the "civilized" world, with absolutely no touches of whatever country or state they happened to be in. Just cold tile, pale green and white walls, harsh lighting and medical equipment that we, as the public, had no idea what it was for. In this particular hospital room, there were beds lined up on either side, six in total, no windows except for the large observation window at the end of the room, like you'd find in a maternity ward.

Within the room was a young woman, bound by heavy leather straps to one of the beds, two orderlies in white scrubs using their impressive muscles to hold her down as she fought to free herself. As all this was going on, a door by the observation window opened and in walked a middle-aged man, dreased smartly in a three-piece suit. He was of oriental descent, though which country in that vast continent his ancestry stemmed from was a bit harder to discern. His hair was coiffed, his nails manicured and his tie straight.

"Hello." He said, speaking to the young woman in a soft, calming voice - the type of voice doctors used with patients they thought were particularly difficult. "My name is Dr. Johan Pryce."

"Please, please let me go." The girl pleaded, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm only sixteen." True enough, she didn't look a day older than that. Actually, with the tears and the way she was strapped down, as well as the two muscle-bound orderlies on either side of her, she looked about twelve.

"I'm going to attatch some machines to you to monitor your vitals." Dr. Pryce continued speaking as if the girl hadn't spoken at all. He was actually washing his hands at a nearby sink, not even bothering to direct those cold black eyes her way. Once his hands were clean and dry, he quickly donned a pair of blue surgical gloves before approaching th bed. Sitting neatly on a tray at the foot of the bed was a fresh syringe and needle as well as a small vial of an unidentifiable black liquid. "After that, we're going to inject you with this to see what, if any, effect it has on you, given your rather..." He smiled his best professional smile, as empty of warmth as a lightbulb. "... unique condition." He nodded to the orderlies, with one pressing down even more forcefully while the other started applying the various wires and electrodes of the monitoring equipment. As she was sobbying and struggling harder, practically in hysterics, Dr. Pryce filled the syringe with the mysterious drug, tapping the needle twice and smiling in satisfaction as a drop of the pitch-colored liquid slid down the needle.

"Please!" The girl begged. "You don't have to do this!"

Rather than answer her immediatly, he half-turned to look back at the observation window, where a man could be seen on the other side of the glass. Due to the harsh lighting in this room, however, the man's face couldn't be seen as the light casued a glare upon the glass. What could be seen of the man was tall and broad-shouldered, all nice and snug in a dark suit. Getting a barely visible nod from this man, Dr. Pryce turned back to the girl and offered her another empty smile.

"I'm afraid that I do." He informed her as he approached, needle at the ready. She struggled even harder, whipping her hair back and forth before one of the orderlies roughly and firmly turned her head to the side, exposing the long smooth line of her neck. Dr. Pryce quickly moved in, using his free hand to steady her head before placing the needle into her pulse and injecting the contents of the syringe. Just as quickly as he moved in, Dr. Pryce stepped back, keen eyes observing his test subject.

At first, nothing happened except for the continued sobs of the girl. However, after a moment or two her body trembled. Then it jerked. Soon, the convulsions were continuous and violent, with the two orderlies barely able to hold her down, while Dr. Pryce pulled out anothe rneedle and injected the patient, trying to stabilize her. In the background, the various machines screamed as her vitals plummeted. Even with whatever Dr. Pryce had injected her with, she was dying. Her body's convulsions grew in such force and speed that the entire bed started shaking, her form almost a blur. A few moments later and just as violently as they had started, the convulsions ended, her body laying utterly still on the bed.

The machinery beeped in one drawn out monotone, signifying the girl had flatlined.

Dr. Pryce sighed heavily and stripped off the surgical gloves, pulling out a recorder from his pocked and holding it up to his lips.

"Experiment with compound forty-two on subject one-three-seven-four-nine has failed." He spoke calmly into the device. "Will extract a blood sample to determine any corrections that need to be made before the next test." He clicked off the device and looked to the two orderlies. "Take that to the incinerator." Dr. Pryce then turned his back on the orderlies as he picked up the now deceased patient's medical charts, jotting down time and cause of death, as well as a few other notes. Behind him, the orderlies were preparing the body to be disposed of, unstrapping the bindings and bringing up a gurney to move it on.

The one orderly had removed one of the wrist cuffs, as well as the strap across her chest and was working on the other wrist when the heart monitor beeped. Everyone froze for a split second before the girl's eyes snapped open.

Gone were the honey-brown eyes of the scared teenager and in their place were two blood-filled orbs. Veins pushed against the skin of her cheeks while she opened her mouth to reveal needle-sharp fangs. With an inhuman growl, she reached up and grabbed the nearest orderly by the throat with her free hand, snapping his neck with an easy twist of her dainty wrist. His body fell to the floor and the girl sat up, easily ripping off the other restraints and moving toward the second orderly in a dark-haired blur. She lunged for his throat, her fangs sinking easily into his flesh, blood splashing against the prestine white tile behind him in a startling wash of crimson. As she feasted, Johan moved swiftly toward the one wall, his focus on the ' **In Case of Emergency** ' button on the wall.

He reached out, his fingers were mere centimeters from the button when an iron-strong grasp grabbed him by the back of his jacket. With tremendous strength, he was pulled violently backward, sailing through the air to smack into the observation window, a spiderweb of cracks spreading outward from his point of impact.

Groaning, Dr. Pryce forced himself to sit up despite the pain, opening his eyes to see the girl striding toward him on bare feet, a determined - read: murderous look on her face. She certainly didn't look sixteen anymore. Hell, she didn't even look human. Not with those fever-bright eyes, wild tangle of dark hair and the blood of the orderly coating her chin and the front of her shirt. She opened her mouth to bare those fangs at him, ready to rip his throat out just as easily as she did the orderly. Before she could act on that impulse, the door Dr. Pryce had used to enter the room burst open and in came several men in tactical assault gear, guns all trained on her. She hissed at them and took a threatening step forward before stopping abruptly.

She coughed.

She coughed again, harsher this time. Pretty soon she had disolved into one continuous coughing fit, her body doubled over. She spat blood on the floor before looking up. They could see she had blood coming from both her nostrils as well as her mouth. As the coughing continued, tears of blood began to flow from her eyes. Just as before, the convulsions started again, just as violently before, if not more so, before she collapsed. She lay there, twitching for another moment or two before her body once again was still, this time he skin turning gray to signify she was actually dead.

"Almost thought we had a success there for a moment." A man said, the same man in the dark suit who'd been on the other side of the glass, observing. The guards all moved out of his way as he entered the room, approaching the vampire's corpse and moving her face with the toe of his shoe. He sighed before turning back to Dr. Pryce, approaching him and offering him a hand up. Dr. Pryce hesitated for a moment, looking up at the man standing above him, before he accepted the offered hand and got to his feet.

"As did I." Dr. Pryce agreed, glancing from the cold gray eyes of the man before him to the body of the vampire laying a few feet away. From there his gaze traveled to the bodies of the two orderlies as well as the blood on the floor and the walls.

"Get someone up here to clean this up, Johan." The other man said to the doctor, gesturing for the tactical unit to leave. "Then get back to the drawing board." He smiled, though it lacked any warmth, any emotion. "Hopefully something with actual results this time." He clapped the smaller man on the shoulder before following the tactical team from the room, leaving Dr. Pryce alone in a room with three bodies.

 **-oOo-**

Caroline Forbes moved around her dorm - her new dorm - on the campus of UCLA. Here she was, Los Angeles, the City of Angels, La-La Land. She was ready to move forward with her life, actually attending college (drama major, of course) as opposed to being swept up in whatever the latest supernatural drama. No! She was going to go to class, and frat parties. She was going to form study-groups and make friends, graduate college and go on to star in a big blockbuster movie.

Yep, she had life goals and she was going to stick to them.

No more relationship drama. No more Travelers or secret vampire-hating organizations. And definitely no more Originals (that was a mistake she only needed to make once.)

Currently, she was unpacking her clothes while simultaneously talking to her mother on her cell phone.

"Yes, mom, my flight went okay." Caroline informed her mother with an affectionate eye roll. "And my car was waiting for me at the airport." She hung up several dresses in her closet. "You should see it out here, mom. It's all bright and sunny and the campus is amazing."

" _I wish I could_." Liz Fobes responded. " _But I can't afford to take too much time off, even with Mystic Falls being a vampire-free zone_."

"I know." Caroline said. "It's just, I'm moving on with my life and I want you to know that you're still apart of it."

" _I am, sweetie_." Her mother said fondly. " _And I know. We've already talked about this_."

"I know," The blond vampire sighed. In the pause in conversation, Caroline heard voices on her mother's end. She listened for a moment before replying. "Are you at the hospital?"

" _Yeah_." Liz answered. " _Jeremy went on another of his binges last night. Meredith Fell is detoxing him right now_."

"Is he alright?"

" _You mean aside from pretty much everyone important to him being either dead or on the run_?" Liz asked sarcastically. " _Yes, Caroline. He's fine_." Her mother said something to someone on her end of the line before speaking again. " _Sorry, sweetie, but I gotta go_."

"Okay." Caroline said, flickering back her long blond hair to press her phone to her ear as she pulled a dress out of her suitcase. "Tell the boys I said hi."

" _I will_." Liz replied. " _Love you_."

"Love you, too."

Click.

Caroline pulled her phone away from her ear before tossing it onto the bed on her side of the room before going back to her unpacking. Sunshine shone through the open windows, letting in a nice breeze of fresh air (or whatever passed for fresh air in Los Angeles). Through those windows, she heard the sounds one typically hears on a college campus, a lot of students chatting, the moving of heavy boxes and furniture, lovers spats, and other such things. With her enhanced hearing, she was even able to pick up the sound of two people having sex in her building, but she quickly shut that out. Past the noise of the campus she heard the noises of the big city: car horns, trains, people, everything. Definitely _not_ a small town. She was in the big city now.

As she was putting everything away where she wanted it - pictures of her friends from high school on the desk, Bonnie's old teddy bear Mrs. Cuddles on her bed, shoes lined up on the closet floor, fresh blood bags in her mini fridge - she heard the door open. Turning around she saw another young woman entering, a book bag on her back, a cardboard box in her one hand and a large suitcase being pulled behind her. The girl was almost completely the opposite of Caroline, all dark hair and eyes with ghostly pale skin to contrast with the vampire's sun-kissed skin and golden blonde locks.

"Hi, I'm Caroline, your new roommate." Caroline introduced herself brightly, her smile almost the literal interpretation of sunshine. The girl narrowed her dark eyes at the blond, the sunlight glinting off of the nose ring in her left nostril.

"Oh, you're one of them." The girl said gloomily, her voice deeper than Caroline had expected.

"Excuse me?" Caroline asked, her bright smile slipping the tiniest bit.

"One of those people that's always perky and happy." The girl responded, moving over to her bed to set down the box and her bookbag.

"Well, I could be depressing and pessamistic all the time, but I figure there's enough negativity in the world as it is." Caroline said brightly. The girl looked over her shoulder and just stared at Caroline.

"You're creepy." She deadpanned before going back to her stuff.

"So, what's your name?" Caroline asked, trying to make conversation.

"Vanessa." The girl responded, pulling out a pillow, sheets and blanket from her suitcase and throwing them toward the head of the bed. "Friends call me Van." She paused, her eyes looking off into the distance. "At least they would if I had any friends." She opened the box on her bed and began to take out sketchpads and comic books, throwing them on her desk carelessly before hauling her suitcase up onto the bed, pushing her long dark tresses behind her left ear. Earrings glinted all the way from the lobe the curve at the top of her ear. Unsure of what to do next, Caroline looked at the comics and sketch books on the desk.

"Are you an art major?" She asked.

"You're perceptive." Van replied, taking out a high-end camera from the box and gently placing it on her night stand.

"I'm just trying to make conversation." Caroline snapped. "You don't have to be such a bitch." She whirled back to her side of the room.

"Don't take it so personally." Van fired back. Caroline looked back over to see her roommate on her bed, back against the wall with a bag of twizzlers in her hand. "I'm a bitch to everyone."

"You sound like me from high school." The blond responded.

"I'm not sure whether or not I should be insulted." Van said in a dull monotone, not blinking at all, just waiting before taking another bite of her twizzlers. The two stared each other down, the only movement being Van's jaw as she chewed her candy. The moment was broken by Van as she shrugged and moved smoothly back to her feet. "Anyway, for the sake of peace among roommates, there's a party going on down by the beach, if your interested."

"A party?"

"Yes, a party." Van replied. "A gathering of people for the purpose of merriment."

Caroline narrowed her eyes.

 **-oOo-**

The sun was shinning bright and hot down upon the beach, but it was offset but a nice watery breeze coming in off the waves. On the beach itself, on the sand and in the waves were college students. Freshmen, seniors, grad-students, all relaxing and having fun, one last hurrah before the school year started officially.

Caroline and Van walked along the asphalt path cutting through the sands, making their way toward the party. The blonde had changed into a pale blue sundress and some fashionable sandles, while Van had kept on her ripped dark jeans and boots, but changed into a dark tank-top to counter some of the heat. As they walked, Van lit up a cigarette, Caroline wrinkling her nose in distaste but not saying anything.

"What?" Van asked, having caught the look. "Does it bother you?"

"You mean aside from the smell?" Caroline countered. "No. It's your body, do what you want with it."

"Oh, you're one of those types." Van said, more to herself than her roommate.

"One of what type?" Caroline did her best to not snap. "One that has a healthy respect for health? Then, yes. Yes, I am."

"It's gonna be a fun year." Van said, sliding her sunglasses down from her hair to cover her eyes. Before the blonde vampire could issue a snappy comeback, she was distracted by a chorus of wolf-whistles and cat-calls. Turning, she saw a bunch of guys in the sand, playing what looked like football. She assumed that they were some sort of fraternity, seeing as half of them were wearing shirts and tank-tops that bore the same colors and Greek Letters on them. The other half were shirtless, which led her to believe they were playing shirts versus skins. All in all, it was a nice view, especially after they realized she was looking back, peering over the tops of her sunglasses to take in all the glistening, sweat-soaked muscle on display.

The view got better when they decided to start flexing their biceps and lifting their shirts to reveal abs one could do their laundry on.

"Mmm." Caroline hummed to herself, biting her lower lips as she took in the buffet of beekcake. Smiling, more to herself than anyone else, she slid her sunglesses back up her face and gave the frat players a little wave and a kiss before doing her patented hair flip and moving on toward the main party. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of them clutch his heart and fall backward into the sand, to the amusement and laughter of his frat brothers. Smirking to herself, she focused forward again, only to discover that Van had ditched her and was already at the party, mingling with her own friends. Huffing in annoyance, she proceeded to put on her best smile and marched into the party, determined to make friends.

Back among the frat brothers, two in particular were still watching her. They were Bobby and Liam, best friends and roommates.

Bobby was tall, a few inches over six feet tall with broad shoulders, and a muscle-bound torso and arms (and legs, which were visible on account of his tight board shorts). His hair was medium brown and curled around the nape of his thick neck, matching his bright smile and bright blue eyes. Honestly, he looked like your typical jock from high school, but with a few years and his own car added on.

Liam, on the other hand, was an inch or two of reaching that six foot goal, though he was well proportioned, with his own set of broad shoulders and muscles. But where Bobby was fair-skinned and tan, Liam was naturally darker complected, likesome of his family came from south of the border somewhere. And where Bobby's face was almost uber-masculine, Liam's was the tiniest bit androgynous, almost what some would call pretty rather than handsome. His eyes were almost solid black and sat nicely in his face, while his black hair was hacked incredibly short, though long enough to style if the need ever arose.

"Man, that is some prize tuna walking there." Bobby said, sunglasses pushed up so he could oogle Caroline's retreating form.

"Dude, you've been spending way too much time with these Jersey Shore wannabees." Liam shot back, his sunglasses still firmly on but watching Caroline as well. "No girl is ever gonna date you, let alone sleep with you, if you talk about them like that."

"Sorry." Bobby appologized. "But they're the only people around here over the summer while you're back in Virginia." Even as he said that, his eyes never left Caroline. "Besides, she's way out of my league."

"Well, to use your earlier anology," Liam countered, watching as she disappeared into the crowd.. "You can't catch something unless you dangle your bait in the water." Bobby turned to look at his friend.

"Did you just...?"

"Maybe I did." Liam grinned.

"We'll turn you into a regular, chauvanist yet." Bobby joked, slinging his arm around his best friend's shoulders as they turned back to the football game. Liam immediatly caught the football thrown at him, glaring at the frat brother from behind his dark lenses.

"If you ladies are done discussing beauty tips, maybe we can get back to the game." He joked, earning a few chortles from his cronies. Liam's eyes narrowed as he threw the ball back with a little more force than necessary, catching the frat brother in the stomach with a 'oof.'

"Let's bring the pain." Bobby smirked, lowering his sunglasses again.

 **-oOo-**

Further down the beach a pretty young woman sat in the sand, a toddler playing with some toys on a blanket in front of her. She (the young woman) was slender and beautiful, with big blue eyes, cutting cheekbones and long white-blonde hair. Seriously, if this girl was any more Nordic, she'd be the poster girl for the Master Race. As she watched the child with a fond smile, the baby picked up a handful of sand and moved it toward her mouth.

"Now, now, darling." The girl, one Rebekah Mikaelson chided her neice, reaching out and taking her niece's tiny hand in her own, forcing her to let go of the gritty substance. "That's not something we eat." Rather than start squalling and screaming as most children would, she merely giggled and gurgled, laughing at her aunt and earning a brilliant smile from the Original Vampire. A pair of legs came into view out of the corner of her eye and she looked up to see the person she was here to meet approaching, moving barefoot through the sand in a pair of cargo shorts and a v-neck t-shirt, two paper baskets and a paper plate balanced in his hands.

"Here you go." Nicholas ("call me Nicky") said as he handed Rebekah the baskets with the fries and deep-fried chicken fingers in it. With one hand free, he reached into the cargo pocket on his right side and pulled out a bottle of water and handed that to her as well.

"Thank you." She said, accepting the bottle and setting it next to her in the sand while he moved to the other side of the blanket, lowering himself to sit crosslegged, his own bottle of water sitting next to him and the plate of pizza balanced in his lap. She took a moment to observe him, taking in his handsome face and those brown eyes the color of pure milk chocolate, his hair just a bit darker than the sand all around them. He honestly looked like the boy-next-door, you know, if that boy happened to be a seriously powerful witch.

"I'm gonna be honest." Nicky said as he raised the pizza to his lips. "I never figured someone like you would go for chicken and fries." He then bit off a decent portion of the slice and began to chew it.

"Someone like me?" She asked, some venom seeping into her voice.

"You know, a thousand year old vampire." He explained after swallowing his mouthful. "Just trying to think about something of your age and power eating modern American food kind of makes my head hurt."

"You were expecting me to eat something like a pig roasted on a spit over a fire?" She dipped one of her fries into her ketchup and took a bite.

"Well... yeah." Nicky responded with a shrug.

"Trust me, this deep-fried crack is better than half-cooked stringy pig any day." Rebekah said before taking a bite of another fry.

"I'll take your word for it." Nicky agreed, taking another bite of his pizza. "So, should we get right down to business?" He asked with his mouth full.

"Lets." The Original Vampire agreed, her nose wrinkled at his lack of manners.

"So, from what you've told me, you want a cloaking spell?" He asked.

"Several cloaking spells." She clariffied. "I need as many as you can throw on me, provided they'll work."

"Of couse they'll work." He looked slightly offended. "I'm not some New Age Wiccan water-dowser. I know what I'm doing."

"Prove it." She taunted, daintily eating another fry.

" _Ivisique_." Nick mumbled under his breath with a tiny hand wave, his chocolate brown eyes focused not on Rebekah but on baby Hope. Before the Original's eyes, her niece just disappeared. Completely. There wasn't a trace of her on the blanket. Not even her enhanced senses could pick up on her scent of the sound of her heartbeat. Nothing. Her eyes wide, Rebekah directed her gaze toward the witch sitting before her, calmly eating his pizza. Her eyes filled with blood and she could feed her fangs push against her gums, veins taut against her skin.

"Where's my niece?!" She growled, her voice several octaves lower, glaring murderously at Nicky.

"Relax." He said after swallowing his pizza. "She fine." He then snapped his fingers to prove his point and Rebekah looked down to see Hope looking up at her, all smiles and gurgling baby noises. Overcome with relief, she snatched Hope up into her arms and cradled her to her chest, insanely happy that her niece was alright.

"So, did I pass your test?" Nicky asked, now munching on the crust of his pizza.

Rebekah raised her eyes to glare at the witch, considering the consequences of murdering him right there on the spot. She resisted, becasue then she'd have to do this whole process all over again with the next witch she found.

"It was impressive, I'll give you that." She conceded. "But I'm looking for more than that."

"Well, obviously." He snarked. "That was just an example of what I can do. I'm assuming these spells are more for her than for you?"

"Why would you assume that?" Rebekah inquired, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Witches talk." Nicky admitted. "I'm assuming by your overprotecive nature that she's the magical, miracle baby of the Hybrid? The one that the New Orleans Coven wanted to sacrifice for whatever reason?" Before he could react, Rebekah had leaned forward, her arm shooting out like a viper to latcher her manicured fingers around his very fragile throat.

"If this is a set-up, you won't live long enough to regret it." She said through gritted teeth.

"Relax." He managed to choke out, wrapping his own fingers around her wrist and sending a surge of Power through them, shocking her into letting him go. "I'm not with them."

"Really?"

"Really." He affirmed. "Those bitches are crazy down South. Most covens avoid New Orleans entirely if they can."

"Why?" Rebekah couldn't stop her curiosity.

"Really?" Nicky couldn't help but ask incredulously. "Aside from the fact that less then a year ago, vampires were slaughtering witches right on the steet, how 'bout the fact that a bunch of old dead people with an inflated sense of importance want their decendents to kill a baby."

"Fair point." Rebekah conceded.

"A lot of witches honor their Ancestors and the Spirits but those swamp-rats are fanatical in the extreme." He finished his pizza and set the plate to the side before leaning forwad. "So, what I have planned is something like I just did, but more specific."

"Specific how?"

"Anyone who means you and the baby harm won't be able to see you." He clarrified.

"You make it sound so easy."

"For the most part, it should be." He pointed out. "I'm very powerful." He said it without any ego, it was like stating a fact. "So, only the strongest of witches should be able to pierce through or reverse my cloaking spell. And, since the New Orleans witches lose a vast amount of their power once they leave the city, we don't have anything to fear from them... provided you stay away."

"Obviously." Rebekah snapped. "I'm not an idiot."

"I would never call you that to your face." Nicky replied cheekily. "But, aside from that, I'll layer you with anti-tracking spells and misdirection spells as well as setting up some decoys here and there."

"What do you mean by misdirection?" She asked.

"Say someone is looking for you and they're strong enough to get through my cloaking spells. Their locator spell will tell them you're on the other side of the planet. Add a few decoys that do the same thing and they'll never find you." He smirked at his own genius, taking a sip of his water. "And, to be honest, I'd stick to big cities. It's easier to hide when there are literally millions of people all around you."

"Very clever." Rebekah agreed with a nod of approval.

"I don't like to toot my own horn, but..." Nicky grinned. "I was trained to think outside the box. To think outside of conventional witchcraft practices."

"Good." Rebekah said. "So, when can we do this?"

"Ideally, this weekend." He informed her.

"Why so long?" She demanded.

"Relax." He held his hands up when he saw her vampiric visage flicker across her beautiful face. "I'll place a few temporary spells on you until then, but there's a lunar eclipse this Saturday and the power boost from that will make sure these spells last for as long as we want them to."

"Good, so it's decided then." Rebekah stated. "Just load me up with cloaking spells now and I'll be back on Saturday."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Nicky shook his head. "Hold your horses, princess." She narrowed her eyes at the condescending way he said that. "I'm all for helping you and your neice, but I don't work for free."

"You want money?" She asked incredulously.

"No, I have money." Nicky waved off her remark. "But I still want payment. That and assurences that the moment I cast the spell you don't rip out my heart to make sure I don't tell anyone about you."

"Meaning...?" Rebekah waited for an explanation.

"A contract." Nicky explained. "That way neither of us can doublecross the other."

"Seems fair." Rebekah agreed. "But what about your payment?"

"Vampire blood is extremely valuable to certain people." Nicky remarked. "And Original Vampire..." He chuckled. "That's another level entirely."

"You want my blood?" Rebekah asked, her perfectly groomed golden eyebrows rising up into her hairline.

"It's not about what I want, but more about what it'll get me." He said.

"How much?" Rebekah asked.

"A pint or two will be fine." He admitted. "Unless you're willing to give me a bit of hers." His eyes traveled to Hope, who was pulled protectively agaisnt Rebekah's chest.

"Absolutely not!"

"I didn't think so." Nicky said. "It's a shame. Blood as unique as hers would be worth a fortune in the supernatural black market."

"Forget about it." She snapped.

"Alright, alright." He held his hands up in surrender. "So we'll meet up on Saturday before the eclipse to hammer out the last of the details?"

Before either of them could say anything more, something drew both of their attentions. Running along the path in the sand was a jogger, around six foot, of dark skin, and by dark we mean Hawai'ian, his muscles flexing as he moved, listening to whatever was playing on his iPhone, the sun glistening off of his sweat-covered muscles. And he had plenty of muscles, oh yes he did. This was someone who didn't neglect his time at the gym. Nope, no dadbod here. Both witch and vampire were entranced by this muscled perfection as he ran by, and he noticed, turning to cast a grin their way as he jogged past, letting their gazes roam over his mostly bare body. While Rebekah's gaze focused on those bulging biceps and bouncing pecs, Nicky's eyes went to the mostly bare legs and the Hawai'ian tribal tattoo around his left thigh.

He turned his head forward again, continuing on his jog, and Rebekah and Nicky watched his retreating back.

God bless running shorts.

 **-oOo-**

"You four, you're up next." One of the casting assistants said to the four girls sitting against the wall. Danielle Kulina looked up from the script in her hand, brushing back her honey brown hair from her face and hooking it behind her ear. Of most of the girls there, she was probably one of the most petite. Delicate, was the word most people thought of. Maybe "doll-like" or "kittenish" depending on who you asked.

She, along with the other three girls, got to their feet when the assistant motioned them all forward. Single file, the four of them moved down the hall, past the dozens (if not hundreds) of other young Hollywood starlets and wannabe actresses that were waiting for a chance to audition for the possible role of a lifetime.

When they reached the end of the hall, they were split up into four different rooms, each plain but equipt with a video camera to do their screen tests. Danielle sat down at the chair in front of the camera, nervously looking around.

"Someone will be with you shortly." The assistant told her before closing the door and leaving her alone in the room. Dani bit her lip, her hazel eyes darting around the room before she forced her attention back on the script. She should probably try and memorize some of this for the audition.

A few minutes later the door opened in in walked a skeevy looking man in khaki pants and a sweater-vest, his greasy hair slicked back from his thin, triangular face.

"Miss Kulina?" He asked his smile slightly predatory.

"Yes." Dani responded.

"I'm Richard and I'll be doing your screen test." He said as he closed the door behind her. "Now, first thing's first, you know what movie you're auditioning for, correct?"

"Yep." Danielle said, holding up the script in her hands, the words **FIFTY SHADES OF GREY** printed boldly across the front.

"Good, so you know what type of movie this will be?" He asked.

"Yes." Danielle fought against the blush that started to rise in her cheeks.

"Okay, so let's start by seeing how well you do with nudity." He turned on the camera and dimmed the lights, his smile growing more sinister the lower the light got. Biting her lip, Dani steeled herself before shrugging out of her jacket and reaching for the hem of her shirt...

 **-oOo-**

The party was still going on, even as the sun began to sink toward the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Caroline, after being ditched by Van, had done what she did best: she mingled. Granted, Caroline usually threw better parties than she attended, but she still knew how to work one. How to find the people she could actually have a conversation with, maybe make friends, seeing as how her roommate probably wouldn't be.

She was currently talking to a girl almost a head shorter than her. Her hair was almost as long as Caroline's, but where Caroline was blonde, this girl's hair was black. And not the bottled black that Van's hair was, but truly black, like a mixture of ink and the glossy black of a raven's wing. Her features were delicate and her black eyes were tilted up at the corners, not a lot, but enough to easily denote her Chinese heritage. In her hand was a red solo cup, probably about half-full, and she gestured with it for emphisis while talking to Caroline about her summer fling.

"Oh, he had the best pair of lips I've ever seen on a guy." The girl, Ivy, said. "Hell, better than most of the lips I've seen on women, too." She leaned in conspiratorially, whispering, "And let me tell you, those babies sure know how to keep you up at night."

"Mmm, do tell." Caroline purred, her own solo cup in hand, and trademarked smile on her face.

"No, I'm not nearly drunk enough for that," Ivy said before grinning. "... yet." Both girls laughed and took a sip of their drinks before Caroline looked around, taking in the vast number of partying college students of all types.

"Is it always like this?" She asked.

"The End of Summer bash?" Ivy asked, getting an affirming nod from the blonde. "Pretty much. One last hurrah before classes and ten-page papers and exams start." She looked over at Caroline. "Not used to this big of a scene?"

"Yes and no." Caroline said. "I did my freshmen year back home and it had some great parties, which I helped with, by the way." She couldn't help but interject. "But just the sheer number of people here." She took another sip of her drink. "It's gonna take some getting used to. Small town to the big city, you know?"

"Yeah." Ivy agreed. "I'm from Savannah, Georgia and even though it's a bigger city, there were no parties like this." Both girls finished off their drinks before moving to the trashcan nearby to throw them away. Ivy asked, "So what about you?"

"What about me?" Caroline startled.

"Any boys waiting for you back home?" Ivy clarified. "Or girls?"

"No, not really." Caroline said, amost whistfully. "There was a guy I was dating for about a year, but we ended things last Fall."

"That blows." Ivy said, getting a nod of agreement from the blonde. As they were walking along, a sort of argument was talking place nearby. Looking over, Caroline saw her roommate surrounded by a group of muscle-heads, all of whom (including Van) looked higher than a kite.

Caroline sighed grumpily.

"Problem?" Ivy asked.

"My roommate." The vampire said, indicating the sole girl in the group. "I suppose I should be a good roommate and make sure she's okay."

"That would be the proper thing to do." Ivy agreed.

Nodding, Caroline moved toward the group, not liking the predatory way she saw them box Van in, jostling her from all sides. When one of them put a hand a little too close to her breast, Caroline was just suddenly there, her delicate hand wrapped around that thick wrist in a grip tight enough to make the guy pay attention, even through the haze of drugs effecting his system.

"I think you boys should go play with yourselves somewhere else." Caroline suggested. When the guy opened his mouth to protest, she squeezed tighter, eliciting a cry instead of a curse. One of his compatriots moved toward her and she pushed the first guy before quickly moving to dispatch the second, causing him to topple over into his friends. Even after having their asses handed to them, those two and their buddies lined up to move toward Caroline and she decided to risk it. Her eyes filled with blood for the briefest of seconds, fangs flashing like ivory needles, enough to scare a bunch of drug-induced douchebags. Two of them stumbled backward before they turned to go away, the rest of their little gang quickly following them.

"That's right, you better run!" Van shouted after them, stumbling a little in her own inebriated state. When she turned back around, she fell into Caroline, who automatically supported her roommmate. "Hey, you badass you." This close, the vampire could smell the reek of booze and the chemical scent of some sort of drug on Van's breath. Fighting back the urge to wrinkle her nose in disgust, she pulled Van's arm over her shoulder and made to move toward the street boarding the beach.

"Come on, let's get you back to our room so you can sleep it off." Caroline suggested.

"No, I don't wanna." Van mumbled, slumping more and more into the blond. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Caroline managed to look her roommate directly in the eyes, tapping into that part of her that she didn't really want to use in her new life.

" _You're really tired."_ She said, her voice dripping with command as she compelled the girl. " _And you want to go back to your room and sleep it off_."

"Y'know, I kind of want to go back to my room and sleep it off." Van repeated, her voice an almost dull monotone.

"That's a girl." Caroline adjusted her grip on her roommate and began to trudge toward the street, hoping she could flag a taxi or something. The journey became easier when Ivy came up on Van's other side and mirrored Caroline, slinging the other arm around her slender shoulders. "Oh, you don't have to." Care said, but just got a shy smile in response.

"I don't mind." Ivy responded. "Besides, it'll be nice for when I need someone to make sure I get back to my room safely."

"Fair enough." Caroline agreed, and the two struggled with a drunken college girl who, with every step they took, became more and more of a dead weight. Caroline could have easily lifted Van on her own, but not without giving away that she was more than human strong. Biting her lip and pretending to stuggle, she looked up to see how far they were from the street. On Van's other side, Ivy tripped and went down in the sand, with the nearly-unconcious girl following her. She would have ended up covering the smaller girl, if not for the timely interference by a handsome stranger.

"Here, let me help." He said, his voice deep and soothing, a down-home accent matching the easy smile he cast at the girls as he lifted Van's slack arm over his broad shoulders. Looking around her at Caroline, he raised his eyebrows in question. "May I?" When Caroline didn't reply, he stooped down and scooped Vanessa up in his arms, one arm behind her shoulders while the other was at the bend of her knees, the one arm still slung across his shoulders. No longer pretending to struggle under the dead weight of the inebriated girl, Caroline straightened up and looked at the handsome stranger. He was tall, over six feet but not by much, with careless blond curls and a serious brown eyes set in an utterly masculine face.

"Where to, ladies?" He asked.

"To call a cab." Caroline said, giving the stranger the once over before looking over at Ivy, who was picking herself up and brushing off the sand, her phone arleady in hand.

"Ride should be here shortly." Ivy informed them. When she saw their confused expressions, both of them not having heard her make a call, she simply said, "Uber." Together, the three (well, four) of them moved away from the party, through the sands to the parking lot nearby where most of the students parked their cars. They didn't have to wait long before a discreet black SUV pulled up the handsome stranger lowered Van into a semi-standing position, Caroline already there to support her.

"Can you two get her into the back?" The stranger asked, looking at Caroline and Ivy.

"I think we can manage." Caroline answered.

"Okay, I'll pay the driver." He moved to circle the car to the driver's side before stopping and looking back. "What dorm is she in?"

"Baker." Caroline answered after a moment's hesitation. He smiled and approached the driver, who rolled down the window. Pushing her unease to the back of her head, Caroline eased Van into the back of the car with Ivy's help. Once she was inside, she settled Van into one of the seats and was buckling her seatbelt when she looked up to see the handsome strnager staring intently into the driver's slack face.

"You're going to drive this girl back to her dorm, free of charge and help her into her room and into her bed." The young man said, his voice slow and even so as not to confuse the man with his complusion.

"I'm going to driver the girl to her dorm and help her to her room, free of charge." The man repeated, his voice a monotone.

"Good." The handsome stranger said with a bright smile, stepping away from the car and tapping the roof, signaling that he could leave whenever the girls were ready. Glaring with narrowed eyes and cursing her rotten luck, Caroline made sure Van's seatbelt was secure before closing the door, letting the driver know it was okay to leave.

Once the car had driven off, both girls turned to look at the guy, taking in his outfit and realizing he must have been one of those at the party as well, what with his board shorts, bare feet and open shirt revealing a well-sculpted torso.

"Thanks for the assist." Ivy said, stepping forward with her hand out. The handsome stranger accepted the dainty hand but instead of shaking it, he raised it to his lips to press a small kiss across her knuckles.

"Not a problem." He said, his voice deep and rumbly. If Caroline weren't already suspicious of him, she'd probably take an interest.

Ivy noticed the charged staredown between the two vampires (even if she didn't know what they were) and stepped back, thinking it was sexual tension. "Well, I'm gonna go back to the party. Find me later?" She inquired to Caroline.

"Of course, I'll be right down."

"Take your time." Ivy insisted, giving the stranger a once over before turning her back to him to face Caroline, making an exaggerated 'OMG he's hot' face, fanning herself and making her way back to the party going on by the beach. The handsome stranger watched her walk away before turning back to Caroline.

"Your friend seems... nice?" He frowned, as Caroline was no longer there. His brow furrowed as he swivelled his head, trying to find the blond. He turned around again and found a dainty yet strong, manicured hand at his throat. Quick as a flash, he found himself pressed against the car behind him, with Caroline's snarling face mere inches from his own, her eyes filled with blood and her fangs like delicate ivory needles.

"Who the hell are you?" She growled, making her voice as dark and menacing as she could.

Instead of being terrified or angry, he simply looked down at her with his dark brown eyes, acting incredibly nonchalant for someone with a hand around his throat.

"Really?" He asked, almost casually, looking for all the world like he was about to start laughing. She merely increased the pressure on his throat, which wiped the bemused expression from his face. In the blink of an eye, Caroline found their positions reversed, with her pressed the side of the car and him behind her, using his superior strength and leverage to keep her pinned. She tried to force him off with some of the stuff that Elena taught her last year, but he simply bore down some more, keeping her pinned to the sun-heated metal of the car.

"Now, I'm going to let you go, but only if you don't attack me." He said slowly, as if he were talking to a young child. Suppressing the urge to snap back with something witty and sarcastic, she simply nodded. Almost immediatly, his grip was gone and she spun around, her hair a halo of golden curls, but she found this mysterious vampire a few meters away, standing very casually with his arms folded over that nice chest.

"Who the hell are you?" She did her best to keep her voice civl, but she still had a sharp tone to it.

"Really?" He asked, arching one of those perfect eyebrows that so many women want, yet so many men have. "You're going to get angry with me? I'm not the one who attacked a complete stranger. A stranger, I might add, who just helped you get your intoxicated roommate back to her dorm."

Caroline narrowed her eyes, not liking his tone or the fact that he was right. "Thank you." She bit out, earning a laugh from the handsome vampire. "Now who are you?"

"Thomas Westfall." He introduced himself, letting his voice take on a thick Southern accent as he bowed like some sort of gentleman from the Civil War era. "But you can call me Tommy." He dropped the accent as he stood back up. "And you are?"

"Caroline." The blond answered after a moment of hesitation, relaxing her posture and brushing her golden hair out of her eyes. As the two stared each other down, brown eyes on blue, someone approcahed them, or to be more precise, the car they were standing next to. And this someone happened to be the same shirtless jogger that had passed Nicky and Rebekah further down on the beach, still shirtless, his muscular torso coated in a fine sheen of sweat. As he approached, her pulled his earbuds out of his ears and slung the cord around his neck.

When they realized he wasn't going anywhere, both vampires turned toward him.

"Can we help you?" Caroline asked, her tone still sharp.

"I don't know." The man answered. "Maybe you can tell me what you're doing right next to my car?" He nodded toward the car that they had forcebly held each other against. Caroline immediatly stepped away.

"Sorry," She replied. "We were having a... discussion."

"Clearly." He said, taking in the charged atmosphere between the two of them. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." Tommy said with a charming and easy grin. The young man simply raised an eyebrow at him before turning his dark gaze to Caroline, who was also wearing a beaming smile. The jogger shook his head slightly before stepping between them and opening the driver's side door of his car. Completely ignoring the vampires, which was probably bad for anyone's health, the jogger grabbed a towel slung over the driver's seat and proceeded to wipe himself down before pulling on the type of tank top some guys wore at the gym, the kind that covered the essentials but left most of the back and his sides totally bare. Tossing the towel into the back seat, he slid into his car and closed the door before starting the engine.

As he pulled out of the parking lot, both vampires watching him carefully, Tommy called out after him: "Nice car!"

The car left the parking lot and Tommy turned back to face Caroline.

"So..." He said with a shrug. "I guess we should talk."

 **-oOo-**

"I've heard rumors about Mystic Falls, but damn!" Tommy commented, his expression a bit shocked after everything that Caroline had just told him. "I'm so glad I never stopped by. Sounds like anything and everything that passes through tends to end up dead."

"Pretty much." Caroline agreed, walking beside him as they walked along the beach, the party a good distance behind them.

"But body-jumping witches?" He asked. "And the first immortals?"

"Mhmm." The blond vampire nodded absently.

"Not to mention the Originals." Tommy commented. "Man I hate the Mikaelson family."

"You know the Originals?" She asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Everyone knows the Originals." Tommy huffed. "But do I know them personally? No. I know to stay away from them." He scowled down at the sand. "They're actually the reason I'm out here in L.A."

"How so?"

"I was down in New Orleans for about ten years." He answered after a moment of deliberation. "The Quarter is a great place to party. Marcel, he's like the head vampire down there... or, at least he was, he made sure that the blood was always flowing and the party never ended." Caroline frowned at him. "Oh, nothing like that. Marcel was pretty strict with his rules. No feeding at all on the locals and killing of tourists was kept to a minimum. Too many bodies attracts unwanted attention."

"Sounds like a blast." Caroline couldn't quite keep the judgement out of her voice.

"Listen, judgey." Tommy said, causing the the other vampire to freeze for a split second, because in her head she heard Damon calling her that. Her and Bonnie. She shook if off and continued on her way, realizing that Tommy was still speaking. "... when you get to be my age, you'll appreciate it more."

"How old are you, anyway?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Ninety-three." He answered. "Born during Prohibition in Georgia and turned just before America entered the second World War."

"Mmm." Caroline hummed. "So, you said the Originals made you leave New Orleans?"

"Yeah. More specifically Klaus." Tommy confirmed. "Show's up almost a century after he ran from the city in the first place with some stick up his ass about how Marcel went and accomplished what he couldn't. Once he was back in town, so was Elijah, and not long after that, Rebekah. The witches got bolder, started challenging more. Then, it all came to a head when Marcel and his 'family' took on Klaus." Tommy sighed. "Klaus won control of the city and I hightailed it out of there. Been here a little under a year now."

"Is he really that bad to live under?" Caroline couldn't help but ask, remembering his devious smirk and pretty blue eyes instead of all the horrible things he'd done to her town.

"When he was in Mystic Falls, how many people that you knew or cared about died?" Tommy retaliated. Instantly, images of Jenna and Carol flashed before her eyes, remembering the devastation of Elena, Jeremy and Tyler's faces when it had happened, and suddenly Klaus wasn't so attractive anymore.

"Good point." She conceded.

"So, enough depressing talk." Tommy said, stopping on the beach and turning to face her, with Caroline doing the same. "If you ever need someone to show you around town, point out the places to be, you have my number."

"I do." She nodded, checking her phone again for the contact she'd added while they'd been talking.

"I'm actually just about to head off for a bite to eat." Tommy let his eyes flash bloody for a moment, letting her know what he meant by 'bite to eat'. "Care to join me?"

"I'll pass." Caroline said. "I'm much more of a bloodbag kind of girl, anyway."

"That's boring." Tommy said with a grin, letting her know he wouldn't hold it against her. "Catch you later?"

"Yeah, I'll be around." She answered and watched as he blurred away, using his vampire speed to head into the city to find a nice little Happy Meal on Legs. Caroline used her own vampire speed to get back tot he party, finding Van talking with two guys. And these two guys - Bobby and Liam - were part of the shirts versus skins game she'd passed on the way in. With the sun setting, they'd donned shirts again and each sported their own red solo cup.

"Where'd Mr. Nice Guy go?" Ivy asked the moment she saw Caroline, breaking off her conversation with the two guys, both turning to watch the blond approach.

"Went off to get something to eat." Caroline said.

"And you didn't go with him?" Ivy teased. "You seemed to be having a moment."

"It wasn't a moment." Caroline defended. "And besides, he doesn't even go here. Just some guy who likes to crash college parties."

"Mmm, creeper." Ivy said before brightening up. "Anyway, this is Bobby." She indicated the taller of the two, who stepped closer instantly with his hand out, eager to talk to Caroline. "He's on the football team here, and this is his roommate Liam, the future Doctor Davis."

Liam laughed. "Hopefully. I'm still just premed."

"I'm being nice now so that I can get free perscriptions later." Ivy countered, earning a laugh from all of them.

"So, what are we drinking?" Caroline asked, smile bright, eager to move on and make plenty of new friends.

 **-oOo-**

Dani walked down the street, pulling the clip out of her hair and letting it fall down around her face, running her fingers through to get the knots out. After her rather... _thorough_ interview, she'd gone off to work her shift at this sleazy diner in a part of town not known for it's hospitality. Now, several hours later and reeking of grease, she was heading home, walking down a crappy street in her crappy neighborhood to her even crappier apartment. Above her, half of the streetlights were out, either due to spotty maintenance or the bulbs were actually shot out.

As she walked, across the street were several shady characters in pants way too big and with bad posture, watching her the way they were always watching her, throwing gang signs and talking loudling in slang terms which should have classified as some sort of alien language. They threw out vulgar come-ons as they usually did, and she ignored them, as she usually did. She took the same way home every day after work and after all these weeks with nothing ever having happened to her, she was a bit more confident.

Probably over-confident.

Dani turned down a dark alley, her apartment just a block away. Halfway down the alley, a trashcan fell over, the metallic ring of the lid rolling away echoing in the narrow passage. She halted for a moment, wide eyes darting back and forth, trying to find what had knocked over the trashcan. A shadowed blur moved across the dimly illuminated wall, causing her to whirl around to where she had entered the alley. A dark cat streaked across the ground and Dani breathed a sigh of relief, the corner of her mouth quirking in a smile.

"Just a cat." She murmered to herself before turning back in the direction she was going.

"Hi." Tommy said, flashing a blinding white smile of vicious fangs, his eyes full of blood and handsome face now inhuman. Before she had a chance to scream, she was dragged away from anyone who may have been passing the entrance to the alley and seen her. Deeper into the shadows he took her, pressing up against the dirty brick wall of the building that bordered the alley, boxing her in close with his larger frame. She screamed against his hand, which was like a vice across her mouth, the sound muffled and muted by his flesh.

"Now, now. None of that." He scolded, holding her in place with one arm while the other went to the belt, making quick work of it before opening his pants. Her eyes widened when she realized his intent, and she screamed again, struggling against his superhuman strength. "This wasn't exactly the place I had in mind for this, but it'll do in a pinch, I guess." Tommy said with a grin, skimming his pants down to free himself before his free hand worked up her skirt, tearing her undergarments aside. She felt him there, dangerously close and large, but before she could do anything more to resist, he was in, thrusting forward sharply and she knew only pain.

Tears fell from her eyes as she fought against his strength, not that it did much good. She did, however, manage to hit him, which earned her a slap to the face before her head was roughly bent to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, Dani saw his monstrous visage once again, a split second before those demonic teeth tore into her neck and her pain was twofold. Dani had never experience pain like this, both at her neck and between her legs, and slowly, the fight was leaving her, her limbs becoming lethargic and heavy as the life was slowly drained from her.

As her vision darkened, she saw something on the fire-escape, but to her dimming sight, it was just a dark blur.

Tommy kept up his dual assault, reaching completion for both of his hungers, but he was interrupted by the sharp pain in his back. And then another, this time in the back of his neck. Pulling out and letting her collapse bodily to the ground, Tommy reached for the back of his neck and pulled a thin needle out, bringing it before his face to see.

It was a tranquilizer.

While he was examining it, half a dozen more struck him in the back. He spun around with what he intended to be a dark growl, but came out fuzzy as his vision blurred. It was then he felt the burning effects of what the tranquilizers were dosed with.

Vervain. A vampire's poison.

As the herbal poison worked its way through his bloodstream, he saw a series of shadowed figures approach, the one in the lead a young woman all in black, her hair a golden brown color pulled back into a tight braid. Tommy collapsed to his knees as she approached, struggling to fight against the vervain and losing, but he did manage to see her delicate, triangular face. Her slightly uptilted dark eyes looked at him with contempt and barely surpressed rage before her fist flew forward and struck him with more force than a normal human should have been capable of. It was enough to snap Tommy's head back and knock him to the ground, consiousness leaving his body.

"Load him up." The girl said, looking at the vampire in disgust. "We need to get him back to the lab before the vervain wears off." Two men in black tactical gear, rather resembling a SWAT team, moved forward and lifted up the vampire's body, carrying it down the alley to where a black van waited with its back doors open.

"Evelyn?" The third man said, lowering his assault rifle. "What should we do about the girl?"

The young woman - Evelyn, for the first time looked down at the bleeding and bruised body of Dani, her eyes cold and unremorseful.

"Call an ambulence and leave her." She instructed. "She's not are problem." The man quickly pulled out a cellphone to comply with the order while Evelyn turned her back on the young actress and moved through the alley to the van, not sparing Dani another thought.

 **-oOo-**

 **The Next Day**

Caroline entered the classroom, taking in the amphitheater setting and the large desk and white boards at its center. To her surprise, the hot jogger from the day before, the one who's car she'd been rudely shoved into, was dressed - rather nicely, she noted, in form-fitting slacks and a tucked-in button down, complimented by a suit-vest and a tie - and writing several things on the white board.

Was he her professer? Because if so, this was going to be a fun class.

"Caroline?" Ivy called out from her seat halfway on the tiers. The blond looked over and smiled at her friend, making her way down the steps so that she could sit next to Ivy for the class. "Fancy seeing you here." She said as Caroline took her seat and took out her notebook.

"I didn't know you had an interest in the supernatural." Caroline commented.

"Just something I picked up on this summer." Ivy noted. "That guy I told you about, he talked about scary stories and stuff all the time. Made me think of taking this as an elective."

"You're taking this class because of a guy." The vampire said. "I don't know if I approve. Unless, of course, he's hot."

Ivy merely fanned herself in response, earning a chuckle from Caroline. All around them the other students took their seats.

"I don't know why you joined this class!" A voice rang out through the classroom. The doors down on the central floor opened and a tall, broad-shoulder man with graying silver hair walked in, the same man who'd overseen the 'operation' of the young girl at the hands of Dr. Johan Pryce. "But if you thought this will be just a period you can sleep through and then hand in a paper based on the Twilight movies, my suggestion is you had better get out now." He laid his briefcase on his desk and leaned back against it, crossing his arms over his chest as he surveyed the students.

"You do your work and get on my good side, you'll come to know me as Al. Get on my bad side and you'll come to know me as the name that my TA uses behind my back and thinks I don't know about..." He cast a side glance at the man Caroline had seen jogging the day before, who looked like he was trying his hardest not to laugh. "The Evil Douche Monster of Death."

There were several scattered chuckles that quickly died down when they saw their professor wasn't laughing. His cold gray eyes passed over every student, hovering for a moment or two over the ones who laughed before continuing their sweep. Caroline fought the urge to shiver as his gaze passed over her, feeling like she was being examined or judged.

"This is my lovely assistant," The Professor waved his hand at his TA. "Mr. Keahilani...

"Call me Max," The TA corrected his boss, not wanting to witness the horror of people stumbling over how to pronounce his name.

"My name is Alistair Crane and welcome to Occult Studies 101."

* * *

 _So, we didn't meet all of my main characters in this chapter, but we're only short by one, so I'll post the characters I've introduced so far._

 _Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes (obviously)_  
 _Marco James as Liam Davis (stole him from season six of TVD)_  
 _Derek Theler as Bobby Trudeau_  
 _Katie Findlay as Vanessa Montgomery (think Rebecca from HTGAWM)_  
 _Charlie Carver as Nicholas Parrish_  
 _Taissa Farmiga as Danielle Kulina_  
 _Keahu Kahuanui as Maxwell Keahilani_  
 _DIchen Lachman as Evelyn Pryce_  
 _Mark Pellegrino as Alistair Crane_

 _Just in case you're wondering, I've actually "cast" every character that pretty much speaks or has a role in this story, so if you'd like to put a face to the character, just ask and I'll tell you who I was thinking of. I actually find this very helpful because my mind is fickle and I'd change my characters appearances every five minutes. This way, I have something I have to work with without having to do it all in my head._


End file.
